Manufacture of boots and shoes



Nd. 29,561. PATBNTBDAUG. 14, 1860. L. R. BLAKE. MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS 0Rsaons.

' UNITED STATES PATN T OFFIQE.

LYMAN R. BLAKE, OF ABINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MANUFACTURE OF IB OO'IS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 29,561, dated August14, 1860; Reissued January 13, 1880, No. 9,043.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, LYMAN R. BLAKE, of Abington, in the county ofPlymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in the Construction of Boots and Shoes; and I do herebydeclare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings whichaccompany and form a part of this specification and in which similarletters refer to similar parts, is a description thereof so full andexact as to enable those skilled in the art to practice my invention.

My invention relates to the manufacture of boots and shoes; it has forits object the production of these articles in a cheaper and moreexpeditious manner than has hitherto been accomplished, and it isbelieved that boots and shoes made in accordance with my invention aresuperior, in all that is desirable, to such articles as have heretoforebeen made by hand.

The invention is limited to that part of the said manufacture in whichthe sole is sewn to the vamp.

My invention consists in the manner in which the vamp and sole are sewntogether.

The Vamps and soles of boots and shoes have been sewn together, first,by sewing to the vamp what is well known as a welt, and then by sewingthe sole to the welt; second, by sewing through both sole and vamp byhand with a single thread so used as to be the equivalent of twothreads, for each end of the thread is used, being passed through bothsole and vamp from opposite sides in the hole previously made by an awl.This latter process of uniting the soles and Vamps is not perhaps socommonly practiced as that first mentioned which is too well known toneed particular description here. It is a difficult and tedius processto pass both ends of the thread through the sole and vamp all around theball and toe of the article, and part of this process has to beaccomplished as follows. The thread on the outer side of the sole ispassed into the awl hole made through the vamp and sole for thatpurpose, its end is then caught by the fingers of the operative, or bypincers, and drawn sufliciently far through to permit the end of theother thread to be caught in an opening then made in the first thread,by pulling this back through the hole the inner thread is drawn with itso that it can be seized upon the outside of the sole, when it isdlsengaged from the other thread, and then by pulling upon each threadthe stitch is completed. It is common to sew the soles and Vamps ofshoes together in such a manner that the stitches do not pass throughthe entire thickness of the sole. In this description of work a channelis cut on the inner side of the sole near its edge, it is then lastedwith its face side to the last, and the vamp being drawn over the last,with its face next to the last, is united by stitches which pass throughthe vamp and into the sole coming out in the channel mentioned. Thissewing is done by hand, (as are the kinds just mentioned) a curved awlbeing used to pierce the holes for the thread which is double, that isboth ends of the thread are used. All work put together in this lastmentioned manner is turned after being sewed the last of course beingwithdrawn; the shoe is again lasted and is finished in the usual manner.It is not practicable to turn heavy boots and shoes, and this process isusually confined to light low shoes, slippers, and womens and childrenswork.

My process consists in uniting the soles of boots and shoes with theirvamps by the ac .tion of a mechanism which forms a seam or succession ofstitches by the interlocking of one loop with another, Withoutnecessitating passing the end of the thread through the material at eachsuccessive stitch, and passing the entire length of unused threadthrough the vamp and sole. The mechanism which I employ to effect mypurpose I have already described in the patent granted to me July 6,1858 numbered 207 7 5. The number of parts of which the sole is formed,and their relative disposition with regard to the vamp, may be varied;as, for instance, an inner sole may or may not be used, and the outersole may be made of several thicknesses. The sole may be channeled uponthe outside so that in sewing the chain or interlocking of the loopsfalls within the groove, and the plain or single side of the seam comeswithin the shoe against the foot.

The tension which can be obtained upon the thread, in practice, by theuse of mechanism, is such that the parts through which the thread passesmay be drawn closely together, and this, by the mechanism referred to,is aided by the pressure upon the stock in the immediate vicinity of theneedle ocoasioned by the action of the feed wheel and the resistance ofthe rest. When the sewing is completed the boot 0r shoe is lasted, thechannel closed and the article finished in the usual manner. In linedwork, which is turned after being sewn, the lining being outside whenaffixed to other parts of the shoe, is larger than the vamp, and whenthe shoe is turned it will be loose and will form wrinkles next thefoot, thus the lining in a measure fails to take its part of the strainupon the shoe and to strengthen it, makes it faulty in the fit, anduncomfortable in wearing, all of which failings my invention avoids. Insewing soles to the Vamps it has prior to my invention always beennecessary to draw the entire length of the thread be tween its end orends and the stitch last formed entirely through the material thusremoving a portion of the wax upon the thread at each stitch andnecessitating frequent waxing. In sewing soles to boots or shoes it is amatter of great importance to have the thread well and uniformly waxedfor when the outside port-ion of the sole is worn off and with it aportion of the stitches so that the continuity of the thread isdestroyed the sole is only held in its place by what may be termedstaples of thread acting to hold the parts together like pegs. The waxin this case aids the holding power of the stitches to an importantdegree. By my improvement in sewing together the soles and Vamps thethread may be uniformly waxed before it is used by the machine and eachsuccessive stitch will be uniformly waxed.

In the drawings Figure 1 represents in elevation a shoe made accordingto my improvement, as it appears after the sole (a) has been sewn to thevamp (b) and the channel closed over the stitching as is represented atthe left of Fig. 2 which is a cross section through Fig. 1. In Fig. 2the inner sole is represented by (c) and the lining by a line in red.Fig.3 is a longitudinal vertical section through the seam, showing thestitch which is known as the chain or tambour stitch.

I am aware that it is not new to sew two or more pieces of leathertogether by a chain stitch but I am not aware that prior to my inventionthe bottoms and Vamps of shoes or boots were directly united by stitchesformed from one thread by the interlocking of one loop thereof withanother and with such stitches passing through and throu h the bottomsand Vamps. I am enabled by my invention to make a saving in the timerequired in sewing and in some cases to make a saving of stock. Thedifferent parts of the article are brought and held in closer contactwith each other than was possible by the old mode of manufacture bysewing, and by the better and more uniform waxing of each stitch thearticle is less liable to rip after wear than were the old articles ofmanufacture.

Having described my invention what I claim therein as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is,-

Uniting the bottoms and vamps of boots or shoes with stitches, made,without passing the end and length of the unused thread through theparts united, by interlocking one loop of the thread with another andextending through the said partssubstantially as shown and described.

LYMAN R. BLAKE.

Witnesses:

J. B. CROSBY, W. B. GLnAsoN.

